1. Field of Use
This invention relates generally to apparatus and method for making double-conductor wire leads having a two-pronged plug at one end and having untwisted or twisted bare or tinned wires with or without terminals at the other end. In particular, the apparatus includes an improved wire shaping mechanism for shaping and positioning the wires at the plug end of the lead prior to plug attachment, and further includes an improved strip and twist mechanism for stripping and twisting the ends of insulated stranded conductors of the wire lead.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prefabricated wire leads having a plug at one end and bare or terminated wires at the other end are used as power supply cords for electrical appliances and the plug has prongs adapted to fit wall-mounted electrical outlets. European electrical outlets differ from United States outlets and require a plug which typically comprises a pair of spaced apart cylindrical electrically conductive prongs each having a hollow crimpable portion for receiving a bare wire end which is crimped therein.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,289, which discloses prior art apparatus and method for making a wire lead having a European-type plug at one end thereof, cable lengths are prepared to receive a plug at one end by a process wherein cable lengths are moved stepwise through stations, in which each cable length is turned and orientated as to its wire leads therein; in which the lead ends are stripped, tin-plated and shaped in sequential stations, followed by connecting preassembled plugs prongs to the lead ends. The plug body is then extruded around the prong-lead connections. The lead orientation is electro-optically servo-controlled and the prong-to-lead connection is made by a funnel for threading the leads into the hollow prongs followed by squeezing the prongs to fasten the leads thereto.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,289 teaches processing one end of a short cable of circular cross section and, therefore, provides means to initially turn the cable so that the two leads therein have the proper orientation for further processing. U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,289 also teaches tinning the bare tips of the wire leads to strengthen them prior to shaping and prior to insertion and crimping them in the prongs of the plug.